Racism rises against Black Europeans

Congo-born Cecile Kyenge is an Italian citizen who has lived in the country for 30 years, but when she took office as Italy’s first black minister in February, she was told that she’d be better as a housekeeper than a government minister.

Mario Borghezio, a member of the European Parliament representing Italy's Northern League party, accused Kyenge of importing “African tribalism” into what he called a “bonga bonga government”.

Throughout her nine-month term, the 49-year-old eye doctor Kyenge has faced a litany of racist abuse, including being likened to an orangutan and pummelled with bananas while speaking in public.

Italy’s Minister of Integration is one high-profile example of racism against which those in power are speaking out, but most sufferers of such abuse are silent and suppressed. Reports and anecdotal evidence from human rights and governmental organizations prove that racism against black Europeans is on the rise, aggravated by the current tense economic situation.

Across the Atlantic, US Congressman Alcee L. Hastings is taking a stand against this epidemic of racial hate. He said:

An estimated seven to ten million individuals of African descent currently live in Europe. Similar to the experiences of many African Americans, they have increasingly become the targets of discrimination, pernicious racial profiling, and violent hate crimes impacting equal access to housing, employment, education, and justice.”

On 19th November, Hastings hosted a delegation of Black European Rights Leaders from 10 countries for a conference in Washington DC entitled “Europeans of African Descent ‘Black Europeans’: Race, Rights, and Politics”. Hastings said:

The purpose of the delegation’s visit was to shed light on the experiences of Black Europeans in the face of ongoing racism and discrimination specifically with regard to their representation in leadership positions and political participation”

The meeting was organized by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which works to ensure that respect for human rights and personal freedoms are globally enforced. The resulting resolution from the conference re-affirmed the rights of black Europeans and pledged US support to aid Europe in addressing the racial discrimination within its bounds.

According to a 2012 report from UK Race and Europe Network (UKREN), black Europeans are the disproportionate victims of violent hate crimes, derogatory abuse, discrimination in housing, unemployment, and police profiling. The study asserted that the visibility of blacks makes them more vulnerable to discrimination than other minorities.

Experts say race relations in Europe have worsened as a result of the recent economic crisis. Georgina Siklossy, spokeswoman at the European Network Against Racism, said:

There is definitely an exacerbation of negative perceptions of migrants, and ethnic and religious minorities, with the current economic crisis.It's become common to accuse migrants and ethnic minorities of stealing jobs, benefiting from social services and abusing the welfare state.”

Hastings and his partners on both sides of the Atlantic are determined to tackle discriminatory hate head-on through the formation of a joint US-European action plan “to develop transatlantic solutions to combat racial discrimination and promote racial equality in Europe”. Hastings also called on his own government to do more by partnering with black European communities, strengthening parliamentary policy, and increasing the political participation of minorities.

The hope is that through an initiative like this one, talented and capable political leaders like Cecile Kyenge will not be made to suffer abuse just because of the colour of their skin.

Mallory Moench